


Karkat's Neighbor

by Gnattine



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Backstory, Blood, Bullying, Burning, Canon Compliant, Culling, Pre-Sgrub, Sad Ending, Troll Culture, Violence, badass meowrails, mind powers, neighbor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-18 12:15:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2348117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gnattine/pseuds/Gnattine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Karkat's neighbor, mentioned in Act 5 Act 1, who got culled.</p>
<p>
  <a href="http://gnattine.tumblr.com">My Tumblr</a>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How It Started

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a work-in-progress, I'll be going back through and changing things at some point.

I looked out the window of my respite block. Someone was yelling outside. Probably just my neighbor, he’s always yelling. But he sounded different today. There was more distress in his voice. I glanced toward his hive. He was at the edge of his lawn ring, with four other trolls around him. Oh, fuck… I remember those kids. They’re probably going to kick that kid’s ass. Oh, HELL no, I was not about to let them make that kid another victim. I’d never let them do what they did to me to anyone else as long as I could help it. I hurried out of my room, yelling to my lusus I’d be back soon. I got to my front door and took a breath. They’d finally get what was coming to them.

 

I stepped outside and the wind whipped my hair around. I shut the door behind me and looked down towards the group of trolls. One, a lower blue blood, was holding the kid’s arms back as he struggled, the sickle in his hand getting yanked away by another, a higher yellowblood than me. The tallest of the group, another blueblood, took a step forward, getting ready to throw a punch. Grinning, I waited until the last moment. A second before impact, I snapped my fingers. Immediately, flames burst into life, clinging to the ringleader, a higher blueblood than the others. He screamed out in pain as I turned up the heat. The troll about to punch my neighbor whipped around in confusion. The other two dropped the kid and his weapon, knowing who was behind this, looking for me. I started walking towards them all, snapping my fingers again, and setting a fire to each one.

 

The kid looked confused as hell, an admittedly cute look for him instead of his usual grumpy demeanor, scrambling to retrieve his sickle. He saw me walking closer and furrowed his eyebrows. I grinned wider. With his assailants writhing on the ground, he wasn’t sure how to react to the situation. I stopped in front of them.

 

“Hey boys, long time no see. How rude of you. You haven’t asked how my lusus has been,” I could feel the rage boiling inside me. Seeing their ugly fucking faces, I wanted nothing more than to burn them all to death slowly and delight in their agonized shrieks. “Ask me how she’s been you bulgefucking cretin!” I leaned down into the highest blueblood’s face. I knew he was the one who’d come up with the idea.

 

I let the flames engulfing them burn hotter, relishing in their screams. I could see my glowing eyes reflecting in his. The look of fear and pain on his face…delicious. I could feel my smile growing. I heard laughter, realizing a moment later that it was mine. I could finally get back at them all. I looked over at their latest would-be victim. And the look on his face made me stop laughing, stop smiling. I slapped my hands together, cutting out the flames. The trolls on the ground were covered in burns. They would have those scars forever. That bit of pride radiated in me, but the thought in my mind reflected the look my neighbor gave me. ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’

 

I sighed and stood, looking at the bodies around me. All still moving, not dead. I took a deep breathe to steady myself. I closed my eyes and breathed out “Don’t ever let me see you ugly faces again. Got it?” They struggled to their feet, wounds healing already, thanks to the stupid yellowblood. That’s his little psychic trick. But they’ll never fully heal. Good.

 

Once they were out of sight I turned back to the kid, “Sorry about that Shouty. Went a little overboard I guess.”

 

“Why?” He muttered.

 

“Why? Um, I don’t know I guess seeing their faces made me lose it-”

 

“No, why did you help me? What do you want?” Ah, there, he’s back to shouting.

 

I looked him over. I might as well tell him part of the truth. No need to tell him I was doing it to save him as well as get revenge. “I just wanted to get back at them. About a sweep ago they used to beat me up a lot. They’re all higher blood than me, and at the time I didn’t know I had any psychic shit, so I was a pretty easy target. I mean, that was all for me. Helping you wasn't part of the plan at all. It didn't even occur to me.” Fuck me, I’m a terrible liar. Should not have added that last bit.

 

He looked at me skeptically, eyebrow raised. “Whatever. I don’t really fucking care anyway. But don’t you think you were just a little bit dramatic with the fucking villainous laughter? They're like, all fucking bluebloods, they'll probably kill you for that shit!”

 

“Well they deserved it! They hurt my lusus! She can’t even fly anymore because of them!” I flashed back to that night. They’d broken into my hive since I’d tried to stand up to them. I’d been their personal punching bag for weeks and finally I punched back, actually managing the make one of them bleed. They told me I’d regret that. They knocked down my front door, looking for me. Of course, I was out at the time, so instead they’d just found my owl lusus. They figured hurting her would be a better idea anyway, since hurting me wasn’t emotionally damaging enough.

 

I’d gotten home just in time to see her, bloody with a broken wing, the four of them laughing and walking to the front door. I’d hidden so they wouldn’t try to beat me up too. I’d tried to bandage her up and set her wing so it would heal, but it would never be completely healed. She’d never fly again. And that wasn’t even the end of it. After all, they still hadn’t gotten me yet. They’d be back…

 

I pulled back to reality and looked at him. He looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to ask for clarification. I sighed and looked back at my hive. I relayed the memory to him. “And after they hurt her, they came back. They set my fucking hive on fire. We were both still in it. They didn’t even have the decency to let me have a fighting chance. They just wanted me dead. We were both surrounded in fire. It was burning so hot and out of nowhere, I just…stopped it. Like instinct. I clapped my hands together and it stopped. It’s like I’d figured it out. I went outside and saw their stupid faces looking all confused. They saw my eyes glowing and figured it out pretty fast. I snapped my fingers and a little fire started. I had no idea what I was even doing so of course I couldn’t use it as a weapon yet. But they didn’t know that yet. Heh. You should’ve seen them run. Nice abscond, jackasses.” Glancing back at him I realized I’d said more than I meant to. “Sorry, got caught up in the moment there.”

 

He gave me a quizzical look. “What’s your name?”

 

“Oh, um, Kaitra. Guess we’ve haven’t really talked before, huh? What’s yours?”

 

“We’ve never fucking talked. And it’s Karkat.” He crossed his arms and stood up straighter. Shorty’s trying to look taller. Cute. Not sure why that would do anything though. Even though he was short, he was still taller than me. I noticed a tear on his sleeve.

 

“Awe man did they cut you?” I asked, figuring it happened when they were trying to take his sickle away. I had to admit, since his symbol on his shirt was gray, I was curious. I could just barely make out a bit of red.


	2. Explanations And Such

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Kaitra discuss how they became the victims of bullying.

Karkat’s eyes went wide; he dropped his sickle and covered his arm with his left hand. “Did you see?” “What, red? Yeah, so you’re a lowblood. What’s the big deal? I can help if you want. A snap of my fingers and it’ll stop bleeding.” He narrowed his eyes, and stared into mine. We sat in silence for a few moments. I started thinking maybe he thought I’d go crazy and attack him too. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I mean it’ll hurt for a second but it won’t be that bad.” He tilted his head, looking a bit weary.  
“What shade of red did you see?” He asked slowly.

I hesitated a second. “Well I didn't catch the shade, just red. Why? Are you a rustblood?” Rustbloods, or burgundy, rather, were the lowest on the hemospectrum. I didn't like using that slur, but since the bullying started I’d been trying my hardest to be more uncaring and unkind. If my earlier outburst was any indication, my efforts were definitely not in vain. It still wasn't in my nature to be cruel and ruthless like other trolls. But being kindhearted is sure to get you culled.

“Redbloods are the most common, why hide it? I don’t get it. Why do you always wear gray?” I looked back at his wound and my jaw dropped. The brightest red I’d ever seen was dripping from between his gray fingers. Without thinking I started pushing him to his hive. Whatever the hell was going on, I’d bet he’d get culled on the spot if anyone else saw.

I’d never been inside his hive before. The whole thing was as dark as most trolls would have it, maybe even darker. He went immediately to his respite block, and I followed behind at his heels. I was surprised he let me in after him, and he slammed the door behind us.

In one corner was his purple recuperacoon, in another he had a desk with a purple husktop, if I didn’t know any better I’d think it was his favorite color. But considering I didn't know better, maybe it was. He had a bunch of movie posters plastering his walls, most all of them were cheesy romcoms. It seemed he had a fondness for Troll Will Smith.

Karkat paced around his block, trying to figure out what to say, tightening his grip on his arm. I reached out for it. He grimaced and eventually, complied. I rolled up his sleeve to just over his elbow to expose the cut. He looked away in disgust. It was a decent sized gash, but luckily wasn't deep enough to worry about too much. I snapped my fingers next to it to singe the skin together. He hissed in pain and clenched his jaw, but didn't pull away. I pulled a cloth and bottle of water out of my sylladex, and started clearing away the remaining blood. We sat there in silence for a while as I tended to his wound. “Well now I get the gray sign on your shirt.” I muttered.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked, shaking his head. “You almost kill four other trolls, and then you try to help the fucking mutant. Why even help me at all? Why not just get me culled like a normal, sensible troll?”

I laughed to myself. From my perspective, ‘normal’ and ‘sensible’ were complete opposites with most trolls. I debated voicing that observation, but that’s most likely just the way my lusus raised me. She’d been very involved in my life and we were very fond of each other, which wasn't usually the case with most others.

Oh, look at that. A flying subject change. “Why were they after you, Karkat? What did you do to piss them off?” He shifted his weight, taking off his torn shirt to replace it. Wow, that boy had a nice body. But I digress. He pulled on a new shirt, the same as the black long sleeved one with the gray sign he’d been just wearing. He pulled his chair over and offered it to me, taking another out of his sylladex. He kept a freaking chair with him. What a weirdo. I sat down and waited for his answer.

“I just went out to get a new movie. They were beating up this kid, he’s a bronze blood, Tavros. I was thinking about trying to stop them, but this girl, Vriska, came up and told them to fuck off, saying the only one allowed to beat him up was her. Of course they went to gang up on her next, but she used her creepy mind control on them and made them apologize to her. Then she left and since they didn’t want to get humiliated like that again they left Tavros alone. Then they noticed me watching. I guess they usually just go after lowbloods, because they tried to figure out what color mine was. But I started walking away without answering. That just pissed them off and they followed me. So I came back here, didn’t even get my goddamn movie. Then they grabbed me and said they’d find out what color my blood was, and then…Well you basically saw the rest.”

“Sounds like them,” I replied, nodding. He scratched the back of his head and looked down. “What did you do?” He asked.

I scoffed. “What you almost did. My lusus was really nice and basically taught me the kinder you are, the happier you’ll be. So when I saw them picking on this girl, a little olive blood, I tried to step in and tell them to stop. They were teasing her for living in a cave instead of a hive. How stupid of a reason was that?” I sighed. “One of them pushed me down and sat on me and told the others to keep going. I was pretty weak then, still am I guess, so I couldn’t get him off of me. But apparently her moirail was in town. Some sweaty guy, who came over and started beating the ever-living shit out of them, while she just stood there giggling. The funny thing is, I’m not sure she’d even needed help. While he was dealing with them, she came over and tackled the guy off of me and started threatening him with her claws almost like she thought it was a game. Then the two of them just left. And the four guys decided I would make an easy target. And you know the rest, mostly.

He took than in for a moment. “Nepeta and Equius, I think. Sounds like them. Maybe these guys are targeting my friends or something. Maybe I should warn Terezi. ”

“Oh? Who’s Terezi?” I wondered aloud.

“Oh, she’s my…my uh…friend.”


	3. Could We Be Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Kaitra and Karkat talk and then...bad people do bad things.

Pausing a moment, “Now I don’t meant to be skeptical,” I said skeptically with a skeptic look on my face, “But something tells me that is bullshit.”

“Okay, well, maybe we both want it to be more,” he flustered, “but it isn’t. It’s…complicated”

“Ooh let me guess. She’s flush for you and you’re pitch for her. You seem like someone who’s best at black. Don’t worry, one of you will flip over eventually, that’s what usually happens.”

“I said it was complicated.” He stood up in front of me. “Don’t fucking act like you know what you’re talking about. You don’t even know her. Besides, which of us is the romcom expert?”

I looked pointedly at his walls. “You got me there.”

One poster caught my eye. Wherein Numerous Vigilantes Confront Peril; One Of Them Betrays The Others; (But It Turns Out To Be Part Of The Plan All Along); Several Attractive Female Leads Provoke Romantic Tension; Four Major Characters Wear Unusual Hats; One Holds Plot-Critical Secret; 47 On-Screen Explosions, One Resulting In Demise Of Key-Adversary; 6 To 20 Lines That Could Be Construed As Humorous; Etc., that one was actually pretty good. I gestured to it and told him so.

“Of course it is. Why the fuck else would I have the poster?” He looked at me like I was a complete imbecile.

“I don’t know, that one seems like it’d be hard to defend.” I pointed to the one next to his door.

“Guess what this goddamn conversation is about? Not. Fucking. That.” 

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
CG: TEREZI. I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU.  
GC: 4BOUT WH4T?  
CG: I THINK SOMEONE’S TRYING TO MESS WITH OUR FRIENDS. SO FAR THEY’VE GONE AFTER AC, CT, AT, AG, AND ME.  
GC: WH4T?  
GC: WHO 1S 1T?  
GC: WH4T DO THEY WANT?  
CG: I DON’T FUCKING KNOW, THEY JUST KEEP TRYING TO FIGHT US. BUT SO FAR THEY HAVEN’T MANAGED TO DO MUCH.  
CG: FROM WHAT I HEAR THEY’VE GIVEN UP ON US, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THEY WON’T GO AFTER THE REST OF YOU.  
GC: 4W3, K4RK4T, 4R3 YOU CONC3RN3D FOR MY S4F3TY? HOW SW33T! SWOON <3 <3 <3  
CG: WHAT? NO, I DON’T CARE. I JUST THOUGHT YOU’D FIND THIS LITTLE TIDBIT OF INFORMATION INTERESTED IS ALL.  
GC: K4RK4T 1 C4N SM3LL YOUR LI3S R3M3MB3R?  
CG: STFU. I JUST THOUGHT MAYBE YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE A LITTLE WARNING BEFORE THESE NOOKCHAFING ASSHATS COME AFTER YOU.  
CG: I DON’T KNOW IF THEY WILL OR IF IT’S JUST SOME STUPID COINCIDENCE. BUT THEY’RE MOSTLY GOING AFTER THE LOWERBLOODS ANYWAY.  
GC: D1D YOU W4RN T4?  
CG: NO.  
CG: THAT REVOLTING PIECE OF SHIT CAN DEAL WITH IT ON HIS OWN.  
GC: 1SN’T H3 YOUR B3ST FR13ND?  
CG: YEAH. AND?  
GC: R1GHT  
GC: 1 TH1NK 1’M GO1NG TO GO L3T 44 KNOW  
GC: TH4NKS FOR TH3 H34DS UP! <3  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

“So…” I said, hiding a smirk, unsuccessfully. “Looks like I was right.” Considering this girl used hearts and he was acting fairly black toward her, my guess was correct. Though he wasn’t quite as black as I’d expected. My guess is, if they do get together, he’ll flip to red. Unless she just gets fed up, then she’d switch to black. Might be interesting to see how this plays out.

“Shut your fucking ignorance tunnel, you still do not know what you’re talking about!” He practically screamed. He pushed away from his desk. I stood up and smiled.

“Hey, it’s none of my business.”

“You’re right. It’s fucking not.”

“Chill out, Karkat. No need to get defensive. By the way, got something to drink?”

We went back downstairs to his nutrition block. Ooh, surprise. Purple thermal hull. He grabbed us some drinks and we went back upstairs. We spent a couple of hours talking. I’m not sure what about exactly. We’d ask each other questions, and while my answers were straight-forward, his were buried under curses and idioms, so I’m not entirely sure what his answers were, or if he even did answer. When we got to talking about movies, I offered to run out and get the one he’d meant to get earlier. Before I left, I promised him I wouldn’t give him away, or tell anyone about his blood. Surprisingly, he actually believed me.

I felt a little bit happy as I started walking. Maybe we could be friends. But from what he’d told me while we talked, he had at least ten other trolls he’d consider close enough to categorize as “friends”, so he probably wouldn’t have time for me. The walk there and back was just over half an hour, so it wasn’t too big of a deal to go for him. I’d rather him not run into those jackasses again. If I did, I could take care of them. Even though I hadn’t completely honed my abilities (earlier was mostly just luck from nearly blind rage), I still had my scythe as backup. I’d gotten it after the night of the fire.

I got the movie without incident. I wasn’t expecting to see them anyway; they would likely be hiding or healing in their hives right about now. Another cheesy romcom, with Troll Sandler this time. Karkat should seriously think about expanding his preferences a bit. I should get him some other movies too sometime. Maybe we could even watch them together! Maybe…he could be my first real friend. I grinned stupidly at the thought. I stopped paying attention to where I was going lost in thought, until I hear the voice. Voices, actually.

“-couldn’t let her just get away with that shit!”

“Yeah but what if she comes after us and burns us again? Do you know how hard it is to heal all four of us at once?!”

“Fucking deal with it. That’s the only reason you’re here, lowblood scum, if you can’t do your job, we can kill you like we wanted to in the first place.”

“No! I…I can do it.”

I snuck behind the building next to them. They were talking in an alley. From the sounds of it, they did something that would piss me off enough to possibly track them down. My stomach was churning. My head was spinning. I felt sick. I had to hear more. What the fuck did they do?

“Good. Now, we just have to wait for her to leave her hive to hunt us down, and we can go after that motherfucker with the gray shirt without interference. That was the plan, right?”

Apparently the highest blueblood had come up with this plan too. Of course.

“Mhm. But if we don’t get over there soon, we won’t be able to hear her screams when she sees her pathetic lusus, or know when she leaves. Are you done bitching? Can we go now?”

No. No, not my lusus. No. What did they do? What did they do?! WHAT DID THEY DO?!


	4. This Is How It Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaitra loses hope, and her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is sad, so if you don't like sad, you probably shouldn't read it. Sorry :/

I took off, sprinting to my hive. I had to get there fast. The question still echoed in my thoughts. What did they do? What did they do? It was the only thought in my mind. I ran the whole way, not stopping for a second until I got to the porch. I knew it had to be bad. I twisted to handle and let the door slowly swing open.

My heart fell in my chest, and I felt it shatter, shards flying into my stomach. The blood. So much blood. It covered every surface. Glimmering gold, burning into my eyes. Her white feathers were everywhere too. She had struggled violently, I could tell. They’d tortured her. Her body was mutilated. They had cut her up. What did they do?

I fell to my knees, my gold-tinted tears mixing with the blood around me, though I hadn’t noticed them start to flow. I crawled forward to her. I could see her body misshapen, and could tell she had broken bones. What did they do?

I reached a hand out, feeling time slowing down around me, and set it on her beak. I tried to ignore the huge opening in her middle, where everything had spilled out. She was three feet tall, but she seemed so tiny now. She was everything I had. I had no friends. My quadrants were empty. All I ever had was her. What did they do?

I looked up at the far wall, my vision focusing in on certain lines on the wall, different from the rest of the spatters, spelling out, ‘How’s your lusus?’ Then, all emotion left. The fear, the anger, the hatred. The pain, the loss. I was hollow. I had nothing. Especially without a lusus. I’ll be culled within the week. And it was all my fault.

I sat there for a while. Probably no more than five minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. I slowly stood up. I knew who they would be after next. No matter what it took. They WOULD NOT touch him. I would rather die than to have that happen. Although I’d be dying anyway.

With her gone, he was my only hope for a life that wouldn’t have consisted of nothing but misery. Even if it could only last a few days. But he may never even know that. He probably only thinks of me as a liability and would be better off with me gone, since I knew his secret.

My lusus was wrong. The kinder you are, the more miserable you’ll be.

But I’ll show one final act of kindness, to five people. To Karkat, I’ll protect him. And to those four, I will kill them quickly.

I looked down at my clothes. I was covered in blood. If Karkat saw me like this, would he worry and try to help me fight them, or not care? I don’t know which scared me more. I walked down to his hive and took his movie out of my sylladex, and put it next to the door. Hopefully he’d notice it there. I sneaked back away quietly, and headed out to meet my tormentors.

With the hate gone, there would be no spark to light a fire. I’d have to rely on my scythe. I stayed in the shadows, where the moonlight wouldn’t find me, numbly watching for them. I walked for about five more minutes before I saw them, sulking along, whispering, though loudly enough for me to hear.

I was vaguely aware that they were talking about me, wondering if I’d left yet so they could get the gray kid, and something about culling. They didn’t notice me until I pulled out my scythe and swung at the yellowblood, who was hanging behind the group, wringing his thumbs. The blade cut into his neck, leaving his head attached, but the blood immediately poured out. I swung again, lopping it off. Killing their healer.

The other three spun around, one even screamed. I lunged at the lowest of them, slashing his stomach. He threw his hands over it, crying out, and I used the handle of my weapon to smash his head as he doubled over, and he collapsed. He’d bleed out before he came to. The other two had their weapons out now; one had a mace, the other a spear. I had no emotion on my face, not even the rage they’d been expecting. And that scared them.

The one with the spear lunged at me, stabbing my leg. I was aware it had happened, but I couldn’t feel the pain. When I took a step closer, he looked like he wanted to run. I swung my scythe over my head to build up momentum, and felt the blade meet resistance when it got to him. The leader had blocked with his mace, and was pushing my weapon away, getting ready to take the offensive. I let it hit my arm, fully aware by the snap that it was broken. But I didn’t care. I raised my scythe again, while they stared at me dumbly.

Their screams cut out as the blade cut through the air, and their necks. By this point, I was drenched in blood. I looked at the bodies around me. All not moving. Dead. In the back of my mind, something started to register, something they’d been saying before I cut them off, and the last tiny ray of hope faded. They had reported that my lusus was dead. I would be culled by morning. That gave me about an hour.

I broke the spear and pulled it out of my thigh, not bothering to stop the bleeding. With a limp, I headed home. I stepped into my hive, and sat in a chair by the door. I wondered if I should write Karkat a note. But I guess, he probably wouldn’t care much anyway. For the next hour, I sat alone. Waiting patiently for my death. The culling drones would be here soon.

I heard them approach my hive. I breathed in and held it, closing my eyes. Opening them and sighing out, I set down my scythe, admiring the colors on it one last time. I glanced back at my lusus and waved a halfhearted goodbye. Standing straight and fearless, I walked to the door and opened it. This is it, I guess. I stepped out to meet my fate, and shut the door behind me.

And that’s the end of my story. I’m not sure Karkat ever really knew what happened to those trolls, or to me. He probably guessed. I know we weren’t that close, and didn’t talk for long. But I thought maybe I’d mean more to him in the end. Maybe he’d at least refer to me as a friend. But I guess what I came down to in his eyes was:

CG: I THINK ONE OF MY NEIGHBORS WAS JUST CULLED RECENTLY, MAYBE YOU COULD LIVE THERE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, when I started writing this, I only had a vague idea of where it was going. I kind of just let it write itself, and this was the outcome. This was my first fanfiction, so please give me your feedback. You can find me on tumblr, landofmusicandsanctuary.tumblr.com  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
